For many in the New York City area, daybreak Tuesday brought stark realization that the damage was as great as predicted. Here are some of the stories.

New Yorkers awake to ruined landscape after Sandy

By: The Associated Press October 30, 2012Comments Off on New Yorkers awake to ruined landscape after Sandy

For many in the New York City area, daybreak Tuesday brought stark realization that the damage was as great as predicted. Here are some of the stories.

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In Red Hook, Brooklyn residents who ignored the mandatory evacuation awoke to debris strewn streets and a continuing blackout.

The floodwaters that rose at least 12 blocks inland had receded by dawn, leaving cars scattered like leaves on the streets, planters deposited in intersections, and green metal garbage bins flipped on their sides.

Schwartz and her husband rode out the storm on the third floor of the residences above the Fairway, and said white-capped flood waters reached at least three feet around the building.

“It was scary how fast the water came up,” she said.

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Kelvin Redmond, an accountant and associate minister at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Rockville Centre on Long Island, lives two blocks from the water in a three-story split level, but hadn’t been able to get back to check on damage because the streets were still impassable. When he saw Monday morning’s high tide, he said: “I knew then that it would be bad.”

He spoke on Guy Lombardo Avenue in Freeport. About 100 feet away, a small boat sat in the street.

Ahead of the storm, he shut off all the power and moved his belongings, computers and irreplaceable items like photos to the third floor.

“It looks like it may be a total loss,” he said Tuesday. “But I still have my health and strength. I’m also a minister, so I still, it’s going to be a good word on Sunday.

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In Freeport, Long Island, Jerry Bonomo was out until 3 a.m. monitoring the storm. The owner of a towing company, he’s never seen anything like Sandy’s damage in 32 years living on Long Island.

“The houses are devastated, boats are all over the place, cars are destroyed,” he said. “Not good. Power outages. Not good.”

Bonomo had power at his business but not at his home. He also had just two words for New Yorkers who thought it was a good idea to venture out:

“Stay home.”

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Buildings in Battery Park City, in Lower Manhattan, did not lose power or flood. Marcia and Jonathan Keske live in a building in Battery Park City called the Solaire but they found out about the evacuation order too late to leave. She turned on the news and was devastated to learn of all the destruction and loss of lives in other places. They couldn’t go to a shelter because they have a sick cat that needs medication.

“I feel guilty,” she said. “I didn’t do what I was supposed to do, which was evacuate, and yet I’ve had barely any inconvenience.”

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Stephen Weisbrot thought his building would be the safest place in the storm. Then he watched the water move up his street with a feeling of helplessness. Late Monday night, he had two and a half feet of water in his lobby, no power and worries about food.

“It’s really a complete ghost town now. My apartment now has a waterfront view,” Weisbrot said from his tenth-floor apartment in Lower Manhattan. “There was an explosion in the sky earlier, and I heard rumors it was Con Ed. It sounded like the Fourth of July. ”

All he could see was the occasional light from flashlights in other apartments. He expected to be stuck at home for a couple of days.

“My fear is food, now that the refrigerator without power, and Lower Manhattan should be without food for quite a while,” Weisbrot said.